


Pretend (Like) There's No World Outside

by orphan_account



Series: Domestic Post-X-Factor AU [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-05
Updated: 2013-04-05
Packaged: 2017-12-07 13:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/748827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Holy wow. I'm posting this at 3 am and Emily beta'd and made it oodles nicer so.</p><p>Here's this. Let me know if I should continue or curl up in a nice, warm cave with a family of grizzlies and never come out.</p></blockquote>





	Pretend (Like) There's No World Outside

Harry just couldn't quite understand how it had happened. Sure, he understood how he and the boys had taken off during the X-Factor. He wasn't daft. They were young, talented, and quite attractive. Teenage girls would flock to most anyone who fit that description. No, that wasn't what baffled Harry. The thing that baffled him was how he had managed to go his entire life without friends like Liam, Zayn, Niall and Louis. It was as if all his life, he'd gotten on with mediocre friendships and hadn't even realized. From the first day the boys had been grouped together, it had been instant chemistry.

Niall, with his light hair and twinkling eyes, and his irresistible Irish charm had laughed his way into everyone's hearts almost immediately. Zayn, with his thick accent and cool demeanor had quickly shown everyone that this was a cover-up for the loving guy underneath. Liam, in all his maturity and caring ways, never let anyone feel left behind. And Louis. Ahh, Lou. Harry had never felt such an instant camaraderie with someone in all his 16 years. It was as if they were made to be best friends. Even more than that-although it felt strange for Harry to think this-soulmates? For lack of a better word, of course. They were best friends. Best friends who shared an apartment, worked together, had millions of in-jokes, shared private nicknames, finished each others sentences, cuddled and spent nearly every waking (and sleeping, for that matter) moment together. Best friends.

In any case, Harry knew he was unbelievably lucky. He was living his dream with the best possible group of boys. It was a good life.

Well. For the most part.

.....

One Direction, as it was, seemed to be stuck in quite the rut. After placing a disappointing third in the X-Factor, everyone was caught in a similar dream-like daze. Harry recalled packing numbly, sorting through his clothes to make sure he only packed what belonged to him. And if the odd warm, fuzzy sweater that smelled like Louis found its way to the hidden pocket of his luggage, who was Harry to argue with fate?

No one seemed to know quite what was ahead of them. They'd lost, which, of course, meant no record deal. But Simon had been so adamant about signing them.. Every aspect of their lives had become this massive blur of question marks and worrying over their future. So the boys did as any other group of teenagers would do when they're lost, confused, a bit terrified and, quite frankly, not willing to be apart. They got a flat together.

.....

" _HAZZA!"_

 Harry jerked himself up off the couch, grumbling under his breath. "Coming, princess!" he yelled through the flat, low voice carrying into the far bedroom at the end of the hall. If there was anything in the entire universe the youngest One Direction member had learn to hate, it was an ill Louis Tomlinson. Harry was learning this the hard way. Two days ago when the sniffles first began, Louis had made him promise to ''nurse him back to health'' when the illness hit full force. Harry obliged of course, always willing to help a friend in need. How he regretted it now.

Louis was the most pathetically helpless person alive when he was sick. Every moment was, "HARRY, could you get me a glass of orange juice?" or "Harold, might you be a dear, and pass that box of tisses?" and Harry couldn't even bother to deny him his requests because Louis was so needy and adorable and his cheeks were so rosy and pink..

At the present time, Harry had been watching a football match in his pants, trying to avoid catching the illness that plagued his best mate. Not that he had a clue as to what was going on in the match due to being at Louis's constant beck and call. Harry jogged the last few steps into Louis's room an smiled sympathetically at the sight of the small lump on the bed. Louis had wrapped himself in his covers, burrito style, up to his nose. His blue eyes peeking out, red rimmed, and puffy. Harry stepped over to the bed and sat on the edge, dodging his best friends lovely pyramid of tissues. He tugged on the covers, exposing Louis's mouth and chin.

"How goes it, Lou?"

Louis pouted dramatically, sniffling for added affect. "Not so good, Haz," he began, shaking his head sadly, "They're afraid I may not make it to Spring." Harry let out a snort and threw the covers over Louis's face.

"Doubtful."

The older boy pulled down the covers, revealing the big smile upon his face. "You were worried," he accused. Harry immediately shook his head and let out a chuckle.

"You needed something?" he pressed, eager to get back to the the football match going on without him in the other room.

Louis's features slowly transformed, and before Harry could protest, he was looking into the most adorable puppy pout he'd ever seen. "Louis-" he whined, covering his eyes. What Harry heard next startled him into dropping his hands from his face.

"Lay here with me?"

Harry shouldn't have been shocked. They'd cuddled in bed before. In the morning, when Louis forced Harry awake for an early radio interview or an impromptu trip to Tesco. After dinner, with their flies unzipped from the huge meal Harry'd prepared. When Louis had one of his night terrors, and crawled into his younger flatmates bed at two o'clock in the morning. But this was the first time either had asked for permission; verbally requested for the other to lay in bed with them.

The pair had developed a very physical relationship from the beginning. Hugs, high fives, hand-holding and arse-slapping became a regular part of their routine. As their friendship grew, the boys became more and more physical. They'd upgraded to massages, sitting on one another's lap, wrestling, playing in each other's hair. That soon led to kissing one another on the cheek, hands, and hell, most any body part their mouths could reach. But those were things all best mates did, right? Of course it was. And even if it wasn't Harry recognized that he and Louis were special. They had something no one else could understand.

Harry pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and complied with Louis's quiet, raspy request, pulling back the covers and immediately slipping underneath so Louis wouldn't feel a chill. He heard Louis hum in delight and smiled, curling up to the older boy, reveling in the warmth. Louis's eyes closed as Harry pulled him into a spooning position, and wrapped his long arms around the smaller boy's soft torso. Harry reached up and pushed back Louis's silky fringe, feeling for a temperature. There wasn't one, of course. Louis had a very dramatic case of the common cold. But in that moment, the curly haired boy didn't mind at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Holy wow. I'm posting this at 3 am and Emily beta'd and made it oodles nicer so.
> 
> Here's this. Let me know if I should continue or curl up in a nice, warm cave with a family of grizzlies and never come out.


End file.
